Seventeen came with the privilege to drive – a legal license for liberation, freedom, wondrous opportunities to explore with friends or a date, and a major lifestyle advantage. But it would take 20 months before I would actually buy my very own car, a 1958 Thunderbird.
Unfortunatly with this particular great looking coupe, I had quickly become owner of an aging, poorly maintined chasis with unsettling grinding sounds, clunks and bumps and serious (expensive) mechanical failures deemed likely. Bought relativelty inexpensively for $500, partly financed by my older brother, I parted unscathed with a slight profit a month later.
But for those few springtime days of happily cleaning and waxing …while ambitious aspirations and fanciful daydreams played along with its radio, this beautiful classic car was mine.
I wish I had it today.
As usual, click on the image for a closer look, and thanks for viewing. Comments are always welcome. M 🙂
It’s a classic! There are a few similar US fifties cars driving around here in New Zealand – most of them immaculately restored these days, which is a big job, but it’s tres cool. Many have been imported recently from the US. We had a few big US cars here in New Zealand in the period, but most of ours were British, imported as knock-down kits and assembled locally. Actually, I hesitate to call most Brit vehicles ‘cars’ – Jaguar were classic, and Dagenham-based Ford and Vauxhall produced a few in the late fifties to match US styling and size, but apart from Issigonis’ designs, the rest kind of lacked panache (and don’t get me started about the Vauxhall Viva).
Hmm . . . do you wish you had it because you now have the money to fix it?
As much as I sometimes long for the styling of old cars, as an ex-automotive engineer, I would be a bit worried about driving cars from a time when there was little to no consideration of occupant safety (relative to today).
But, the good thing about memories is that we tend to remember only the positive aspects of most life experiences.
Yeah, maybe having one today would be wishfull thinking which would include re-living only the good things about the times we remember. 🙂
. . . not that it’s a bad thing . . .
Yes Marty … I feel the same about my lovely old VW Kombi. Had to trade it in when the children came along over 40 years ago, but now – how wonderful life would be. My dreams are haunted by the thought. Wes
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We have bought a couple of old cars including a VW Kombi and a 1996 Saab Convertible. The first to relive the dream of youth road tripping up and down the coast. The second my husbands mid age crisis. The Kombi didn’t last long and although Roger loves his Saab it makes you appreciate the handling that modern cars have. Hope you don’t mind but I have linked your two car posts.
Linking no problem. Oddly the comment just above yours from Wes in Australia, mentions his VW Kombi! M 🙂
Yes I noticed that. They were very popular in Australia as were Ford transit vans but they were much more expensive.
I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 18 and my first car, a 1974 Chevrolet Impala, didn’t arrive until late 1977.